By the end of that Sunday evening only the 19th Brigade of the Third Corps, which was operating near Soissons, and some brigades of the Second Corps, lying more to the right, had failed to cross the stream. The bulk of the British had made the passage, and were now entrenched well up the slopes on the farther side. Never before in the history of the British army had so broad a river been so quickly crossed in the face of such a great and strongly-posted enemy. It was a remarkable feat of arms, and the credit was mainly due to the artillery and to the engineers. In the face of almost certain death, our sappers worked as calmly and coolly at their bridges as though engaged in peaceful manoeuvres at home.
_By permission of the Illustrated London News._
Diagram of the Aisne Valley showing the part of the River attacked by the British.
In his dispatch of October 8, 1914, Sir John French thus describes the Aisne valley:--"The Aisne Valley runs generally east and west, and consists of a flat-bottomed depression of width varying from half a mile to two miles, down which the river follows a winding course to the west, at some points near the southern slopes of the valley, and at others near the northern.
"The high ground both on the north and south of the river is about 400 feet above the bottom of the valley, and is very similar in character, as are both slopes of the valley itself, which are broken into numerous rounded spurs cut into by ravines. The most prominent of the former are the Chivres Spur on the right bank, and Sermoise Spur on the left. Near the latter place the general plateau on the south is divided by a subsidiary valley of much the same character down which the small river Vesle flows to the main stream near Sermoise. The slopes of the plateau overlooking the Aisne on the north and south are of varying steepness, and are covered with numerous patches of wood, which also stretch upwards and backwards over the edge on to the top of the high ground. The Aisne is a sluggish stream of some 170 feet in breadth, but being 15 feet deep in the centre, it is unfordable. Between Soissons on the west and Villers on the east (some 3 miles south-east of Soupir) there are eleven road bridges across it. On the north bank a narrow-gauge railway runs from Soissons to Vailly where it crosses the river, and continues eastward along the south bank. From Soissons to Sermoise a double line of railway runs along the south bank, turning at the latter place up the Vesle Valley.